Banal is not Trivial: Visibility, Recognition, and Inequalities between Religious Groups in Prison

Abstract

Recognizing religious groups is not only a question of granting rights, but also a question of the possibility of being perceived as unproblematic, especially in contexts where religion is a contested issue. Spain is a compelling case to examine this proposition. There, the rise of migration-driven religious diversity and the attacks of 11 March 2004 have led religious minorities into the sensitive terrain of ‘supra-visibility’. Drawing upon research conducted in prisons, we show that, in this situation, being classified as a ‘religion’ becomes more a cause for alarm than a sign of normalcy. The most powerful actors in the field have actively distanced themselves from the category of ‘religion’, either because they are presented as spiritual therapies or because they are embedded in cultural traditions—the banal Catholicism that prevails in many southern European settings. Overall, religious inequalities are not only related to the recognition of rights, but also to the (in)visibility of some social and cultural forms over others.

Acknowledgements

This article emerged from a broader research project on religious diversity in prisons and hospitals in Spain, conducted in collaboration with Gloria Garcia-Romeral, Julia Martínez-Ariño, and Joan Estruch and supported by the National Research Programme of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Grant CSO2010-21248). The research is based on data collected by several research assistants (Laia Vidal, Gerard Tomàs, and Marc Sant), whom we would like to thank for their help. We would also like to thank Antoni Verger, Marian Burchardt, James Beckford, and the two anonymous referees of the Journal of Contemporary Religion for their comments on earlier versions of this article.

Notes

1. The sample includes prisons from Catalonia and Andalucia which, regardless of the different patterns in religiosity of their respective populations, are relevant in illustrating and underlining similar patterns in the presence of religion in prison. Overall, 37 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with policy-makers, prison managers and officials, religious leaders, prison volunteers and faith-based NGOs. Furthermore, observation was carried out: (a) during religious and non-religious activities by religious or holistic actors within prisons, (b) in libraries, places of worship, and other common facilities, (c) during a 40-day yoga course which took place in a Catalan prison.

2. The most relevant issues that the agreement of 24 November 1993, the Order on Catholic Pastoral Care in Penitentiary Institutions (BOE 298), regulates are the number of Catholic chaplains for each prison according to the number of inmates and the cost of Catholic pastoral care—which includes chaplains’ salaries—that the Spanish government must cover. Moreover, Article 2 of the Order lists the activities included in the term ‘pastoral care’: mass on Sunday as well as other festivities, personal counselling for inmates, religious teaching, administration of sacraments, activities aimed at the ‘religious development’ of inmates, and the collaboration in ‘humanising’ prison settings.

3. All the interview excerpts were translated into English by the authors.

4. Article 9 of the Cooperation Agreements states that “the right to spiritual support is hereby guaranteed for all persons committed to prisons, hospitals, social services or other analogous public institutions [and are to be] provided by religious ministers or persons designated by the communities and subject to the authorisation of the corresponding administrative bodies”.

5. On 27 October 2007, the Spanish government also signed an agreement with the Spanish Islamic Community with the aim of covering the expenses for religious care in prisons. The agreement has not been completely implemented yet and there is no similar agreement with the Protestant or Jewish communities (Rodríguez Blanco).

6. The sociological Thomas theorem, posited by W. I. Thomas and D. S. Thomas in 1928, states that, “If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences” (Thomas and Thomas).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mar Griera

Dr Mar Griera is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) in Barcelona, Spain. She is a research associate in the Research in Sociology of Religion group (ISOR) and in the Centre de Sociologie des Religions et d’Éthique Sociale de l’Université Marc Bloch in Strasbourg, France. She has been a visiting fellow, for example, in the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs at Boston University, at Exeter University, and in the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies at the University of Amsterdam. Her main research areas are the politics of religious diversity, African and Latin American Pentecostalism in Europe, and holistic therapies and spirituality in prisons and hospitals. Anna Clot-Garrell is a PhD candidate in sociology at the Universitat Autònoma of Barcelona, working on transformations of traditional religious contexts. She is a member of the ISOR (Research in Sociology of Religion) group and participates in the research on the politics of religious diversity. CORRESPONDENCE: Mar Griera, Departament de Sociologia, Facultat de Ciències Polítiques i Sociologia, Universtiat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193–Bellaterra, Spain.